Other Links

Daughter's Memories

Chapter 7 INDIA WINS FREEDOM- AN EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT OF TRANSFER OF POWER

“I
am a General who has been defeated by his own soldiers.” Mahatma
Gandhi

1940 to 1947 - was the formative
period in my life as well the most significant time in Indian history
when the British rulers decided to quit India and transfers power
into Indian hands. They also accepted the division of India as agreed
to by the Muslim League, which claimed to represent most Muslims of
the country and the Indian National Congress, which undoubtedly
represented a vast majority of the Indian people. During all these
years, I was a student involved in the freedom movement. In 1944,
however, I started having a vintage view of the emerging independence
movement – simultaneously watching the partition tragedy which
affected me personally as a Punjabi Hindu living in Lahore. I was
forced to quit my home and job – and had to migrate to India to
start a new life. In Lahore , I had joined a daily Hindi newspaper
about three years before independence, as an Assistant Editor
in-charge of the night shift while during the day I went to the
Punjab University for my Masters’ Programme in Political Science.
Less than two years after partition, I became part of the newly
formed East Punjab Government in Shimla. I was, therefore, witness
and privy to most political developments before and immediately after
independence. In dividing India, into Pakistan and India as two
separate countries, the principal player was a man called Mohammed
Ali Jinnah – who told the Indian National Congress leaders, Mahatma
Gandhi and others on the one side and the British rulers on the other
–give me Pakistan or face a Civil War and to make his threat work
he enacted a preview of the civil war in the shape of a carnage in
Calcutta where several thousand people lost their lives in one day.

Mahatma Gandhi was unequivocally
against the partition of India but was willing to be flexible enough
to yield to Jinnah to keep India as one country – he agreed to
accept Jinnah as the first Prime Minister of India if he gave up his
insistence on dividing India on religious basis.

On the issue of formation of
Pakistan, Gandhi was clear, “Pakistan over my dead body”.

Although the British Government led
by the Labour Party had decided to leave India peacefully, deciding
factor was not change of heart or mind, but the compulsion that they
could no longer hold India either by force or by intrigue. They did
try to know how much more force was needed to hold on to India. In
reply, the then Viceroy Lord Wavell who was a brilliant retired
General wrote back in a top secret letter to his government that he
will need at least five more British Divisions – about two hundred
thousand additional soldiers- to preserve law and order in India .
This has been revealed in the confidential papers recently
declassified by the British Government. The new Labour Prime Minister
Atlee was not willing to take any risk – he had made promises in
the general elections to the British people that he will demobilise
the Army and bring the boys home. It would have been a disaster if he
had to mobilise additional two hundred thousand soldiers for overseas
assignments.

However, the veteran British General
favoured the creation of an independent Pakistan State, as it would
be in the larger British strategic interests. He expressed this
opinion to British Government and suggested that Pakistan as
envisaged by Mohammed Ali Jinnah minus East Punjab, West Bengal and
Assam will be adequate for British interests and more acceptable to
the Indian leadership. He also suggested March, l948 as the date of
leaving India by the British forces.

The British did not trust the Indian
National Congress leaders who had been rebels all through their
careers while the Muslim League led by a feudal oligarchy favoured
the British continuation. They were convinced that an independent
sovereign Pakistan would be more pliable against the monolithic and
large India. The Viceroy, therefore, supported the creation of
Pakistan.

My intention here is to honestly
tell how India won its independence as everything happened before my
eyes as a young newsmanin the mid-forties

To recall history, the British
entered India as petty traders as early as l600 getting some trading
concessions from the Mughal King Shah Jehan. The Dutch, the
Portuguese and the French came more or less at the same time. After
the death of Shah Jehan, the Mughal Empire in India started showing
signs of disintegration. As the imperial power in Delhi weakened,
local Maharajas, Nawabs and other chieftains started fighting among
themselves. The British who had started their business as a small
trading company named East India Company found an opportunity to play
politics along with the trading in India. They had a highly trained
British force with the most modern arms. They instigated local
chieftains against each other in return for favours in the form of
territory, money or more concessions and consolidated their position.
Over the years, they became so strong that they managed to defeat the
Mughal Viceroy of Bengal in the battle of Plassey in l757 by intrigue
and fraud. Having taken over the fertile Indo- Gangetic plains, they
forced the Mughal Emperor to grant them the viceroyalty of the area
too - making them immensely powerful.

In l803, they decisively defeated the
Marathas, who were a major power in the country at that time
threatening the Mughal Emperor in Delhi. Now, the whole of India was
open to their penetration. Only the Sikh Empire in the north was a
stumbling block. The death of the wise Sikh Maharaja Ranjit Singh
shattered the Sikh empire and the intrigues among the Sikh generals
that followed humbled them in two wars– placing the whole country
at the mercy of the British East India Company.

Exhausted by wars, the British East
India Company needed money and they sold the state of Jammu and
Kashmir to the Dogra General Dhyan Singh for a paltry sum of 7.5
million rupees.By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the tiny
British East India Company had been transformed into a mighty empire
– they had already thrown their rival European powers - the French,
the Dutch and the Portuguese out of India. Over 500 local rulers and
chieftains had no option but to accept the British suzerainty in
return for promise to let them rule their kingdoms. But, promises
were only on paper. The East India Company continued to be on an
expansionist spree. Irked by their behaviour, some of the disgruntled
Indian princes along with several battalions of the Sepoys of the
British Army on the British payroll revolted against the East India
Company under the leadership of the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah
Zaffar in l857. The British called it the Sepoy Mutiny while the
Indian historians have described it as the First War of Indian
Independence. The British were fortunate. Not all the Indian Princes
joined in the mutiny – in fact, some of them actively supported
them especially the Sikhs in the north. The poor old Mughal Emperor
known more for his Urdu poetry than power and whose realm did not
extend beyond the four walls of Delhi, was captured. The mutiny was
mercilessly quelled and most of the captured rebels hanged- the sons
of the Mughal King were also publicly hanged in Delhi. The lonely
Mughal King was taken to Mandley in Burma where he died in exile
adding some more poems to his rich collection.

Distressed by the mutiny in India,
which could have liquidated the British Empire and which resulted in
a heavy toll of British life, the Government in London decided to
take over the governance of India directly under the Crown . The
East India Company was wound up and the Indian administration
brought under the control of a Governor General or Viceroy appointed
by Queen Victoria – the then Queen of England. She was declared
the Empress of India. From now on, all major political decisions on
India were taken in London by the Secretary of State for India with
the approval of the British Cabinet.

The Queen Victoria assured the Indian
rulers that their territories would be respected in future. In
return, they were expected to behave and remain faithful and loyal to
the Crown. In order to keep them under check, the Viceroy appointed a
British Resident in every Indian State to keep the British Government
informed about what was happening within those states . The ruler was
advised, warned or made to abdicate in cases of gross misdeeds or
mal-administration. Living in total luxury with little checks, most
of the Indian rulers degenerated into play boys and the British let
them indulge so long as they did not join the nationalist forces
which were raising their heads in the British India. There are
hilarious stories of the Maharajas and Nawabs having scores of wives
and concubines, booking all the hotel rooms during their travels to
Europe.

From failure of Indian Mutiny, till
the First World War in 1914, it was a period of consolidation of the
British Raj in India. During the Muslim rule or the rule of the
Indian princes, the people suffered arbitrary and whimsical
administrators where the law of the powerful prevailed. The new
administration under the British introduced uniform laws in the land
and applied them fairly– giving a feeling of security to their
subjects. They introduced major reforms. They formulated new
educational policy and enforced English as the official language of
the Government for use in courts and communications with government..
As a result , Indians got a common language to communicate with
each other. The advent of printing technology and newspapers helped
create national awakening and fellow feelings. A modern judicial
system was launched with uniform legal and penal codes. Another
major development was introduction of an All India Civil Service
(Indian Civil Service – ICS) – which came to be known as the
steel-frame of the British power .. Railways soon connected the whole
country - removing distances and encouraging trade, business and
travel. Post and Telegraph offices made their presence felt in both
urban and rural areas. Telephones that followed did the same –
even more effectively.. Common currency and Customs Services brought
a sense of unity among the people of India. After the Muslim and
Sikh rule in Punjab where the law generally favoured the rich, the
Sikh peasantry was so happy with the British Sahibs that they
described the British as ‘Topiwale Sikhs ‘ which implied good
people.

The post World War I years were the
period of mass awakening . With the spread of education, newspapers
and radio, Indians understood the value of freedom and democracy and
started demanding their rights. But, the British bureaucrats here had
no intention of giving the same freedoms to their subjects - which
they enjoyed in their home country.

The Indians were told during the War
that 1 that the Germans were aggressors and they had designs over
India and fight against Germany was fight for Indian freedom. After
the War, the Indian intelligentsia expected some form of Home Rule to
be offered. But, the British officialdom was not ready – in fact,
they became more rigid. However, the liberal traditions of the
British democracy influenced selected British intellectuals working
in India to make a small beginnings. One of these gentlemen was Mr.
A. Hume who established a forum to discuss reform issues in l885 and
called it the Indian National Congress. He was its first President.
Before setting it up, Mr. Hume had a nod from the then British
Governor General Lord Curzon to start it .

Over the next few decades, the Indian
National Congress grew from strength to strength – initially
passing harmless resolutions demanding sops and minor reforms. The
Congress at that time attracted brilliant Indian lawyers and
professionals- however they confined their activities to armchair
politics. But, their activities gradually created political awareness
and a demand for home rule. Mohammed Ali Jinnah who later became the
architect of Pakistan was one of those legal minds who at that time
was one of the top Congress leaders and the greatest votary of Hindu
Muslim unity. Gopal Krishan Gokhle – one of the tallest Congress
leader described him as the best ambassador of Hindu Muslim unity. In
those years, Jinnah opposed reservation of Muslims in services,
legislatures as well as in the local bodies. In the Congress session
of 1910 at Allahabad , he introduced a resolution, condemning “
provision of reserving separate seats for Muslims especially in its
application to Municipalities , District Boards and other local
bodies .'' He was of the opinion that that “it will sow the seeds
of division between Hindus and Muslims to keep them politically
apart.”'

But the British were playing their
own games – they introduced reservations in every sphere of
government – national as well as State dividing the people . Jinnah
was an ambitious political stratagist who wanted to indulge in the
luxury of Indian politics only as a dominant player – not as
second to anyone .But , he found it difficult to dominate when
Mahatma Gandhi joined the Indian National Congress in the twenties
and transformed it into a mass movement for freedom - initially
demanding Dominion status or Home Rule for Indians and later total
freedom.. Jinnah- an aristocrat was not used to the politics of
agitation, which involved arrests and jails. He saw no scope to rise
in the Indian National Congress and decided to move back to London to
practice law at the Privy Council where he was practising earlier
after his Bar- at- Law. He had plenty of clients among the Indian
feudal aristocracy who had their cases before the Privy Council,
which was the highest judicial body- Court of Appeal- within the
British Empire.

In the coming years, Mahatma Gandhi
led several movements of civil disobedience and non-co-operation
against the British Government to persuade them to leave India
peacefully. He himself abjured violence – and expected his people
not to fight the government by violent means. Instead, he asked them
to court arrests, go to jails, not to pay taxes, leave government
jobs, manufacture salt on the beaches without paying taxes, not to
buy British-made cloth and the burn old imported clothes. He urged
them to wear only the hand-made Indian cloth – preferably Khadi
spun on the spinning wheel and woven by human hands. To set an
example, Mahatma Gandhi religiously found time daily to work on his
spinning wheel. The flag which Indian National Congress used during
the freedom struggle was the same flag which India uses today
excepting that the Ashoka Chakra has now replaced the Spinning Wheel
of Gandhi in the centre of the flag. Wearing Khadi became the most
popular thing for the young and old Indians and their Khadi costumes
and the white cap, which came to be known as Gandhi cap, could
immediately identify Congress workers. At one time, Mahatma Gandhi
asked students and teachers to leave government schools. And, many of
them followed his orders. Millions of men and women of India courted
arrests all over India and the jails had no space to keep the new
inmates. It appeared that the British might be forced to quit.

However, when the movement was at
its peak, Mahatma Gandhi decided to suspend it after a few stray
incidents of violence - to start again when people promised to remain
non-violent. This gave the administration a breathing space to
prepare for the next round. People resented the decision but Mahatma
Gandhi was fighting a just war where he did not want to use any foul
means.

But, the unexpected return of
Mohammed Ali Jinnah to India in l935- gave the British reason to
delay freedom. Mohammad Ali Jinnah had changed colours. He was no
longer a votary of Hindu Muslim unity – now, he called for a
separate homeland for the Muslims of India. He announced that Hindus
and Muslims could not remain together – and insisted that the
British should not leave India without dividing the sub-continent.
He took his own time, in clarifying his concept of what was meant by
a new homeland. It was spelled out only in l940 in a resolution
passed by the Muslim League in their Lahore session.

“The ideology of Muslim League is
based on fundamental principle that Muslims of India are an
independent nationality and any attempt to merge their national and
political identity and unity will not only be resisted, but, in my
opinion, will be futile for anyone to attempt it………. We are
determined to set up an independent Muslim State in the
subcontinent." He said .

The Lahore resolution, was moved by
Sir Sikander Hayat Khan, the Chief Minister of Punjab, who demanded
the territory including NWFP, Baluchistan, and Sind, whole of Punjab,
Bengal and Assam with a corridor linking the two wings of the new
state through the Indian Territory. The l940 resolution did not call
it Pakistan – the name was given later.

To expound further Jinnah declared,
“We can settle the political problem in ten minutes. Gandhi should
say that I agree there should be Pakistan. I agree that one fourth of
India composed of Punjab, North West Frontier Province, Bengal and
Assam with their present boundaries, constitute the Pakistan State.”

The resolution also opened the way
for dividing the provinces of Punjab, Bengal and Assam on the basis
of majority population of the two communities.

The wily Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan –
soon changed his tune to float the idea of an independent Punjab with
all the five rivers – without disturbing its existing boundaries.
No one trusted him and the idea died a natural death. The same
happened when H.S. Suhrawardy, the man who presided over the Bengal
Government during Calcutta massacres, floated the idea of an
independent Bengal, which was also turned down because of lack of
trust in Suhrawardy.

A story is told about why Jinnah
returned to India from London where he had a roaring practice.
Someone conveyed to him that Jawahar Lal Nehru had claimed that
Jinnah was finished. This alleged remark by Nehru angered Jinnah to
an extent that he decided to wind up his practice and return to
Mumbai to ‘teach Nehru a lesson'.

Jinnah never claimed to be a
religious Muslim as he enjoyed his Scotch in the evening with fellow
Muslims and other friends and made no secret of that. On the other
hand, Jinnah acquired the British tastes of eating pork sausages etc
. He was a very well-dressed man wearing clothes stitched by the best
tailors of England. Jinnah was very friendly to Parsee families -
specially Sir Dinshaw Petit – one of his friends. At the age of
forty, Jinnah fell in love with his 18-year old pretty daughter
Ruttie who was described as 'warm, friendly, gregarious and fiercely
independent' and married her against the wishes of her parents. They
did not remain together for long – though they were not legally
divorced. Rutti died at the age of 29 only in a Paris hospital.
Jinnah's biographers have claimed that the only time Jinnah cried was
when Rutti's body was lowered in the grave. Ruttie left a daughter
behind – Dina - who moved to London with her father when he decided
to set up his practice in England . But the young Dina could not cope
with her father and married another Parsee against the wishes of her
father. The family still lives in India.

In his memoirs, Justice M.C. Chagla,
a retired Chief Justice of Bombay High Court has related an
interesting story of Jinnah ordering sausages and eggs for breakfast
where Justice Chagla had joined him. While he was eating his food an
old Muslim with a small boy came to him. As Jinnah motioned to him to
sit – the child extended his hand to pick up the pork sausage from
the plate and eat it. Justice Chagla did not stop the child from
eating pork fearing that if it was found out that Jinnah ate pork, he
would have lost his elections to the Central Legislature from where
he was contesting on a reserved Muslim seat.

Pakistan or Civil War became Jinnah’s
constant refrain and a war cry.

As the World War II started in l939,
the new Viceroy Lord Wavell announced India’s participation in the
War without consulting Indian leadership, which hurt the sentiments
of the Indian people. Mahatma Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru were
opposed to the Fascist regimes of Germany and Italy and wanted to
support the British Government in its war efforts – provided they
agreed to free India after the successful completion of the War. The
British Government did not want to make any commitment. Muslim League
leadership was only interested in opposing the Indian National
Congress and had no hesitation in supporting the British in return
for favours.

As the War turned bad for the
British- the Japanese forces knocking at India's doors in Burma –
and the rebel Indian patriot Subhash Chander Bose leading the Indian
National Army with Japanese support and occupying Imphal, the capital
of the state of Manipur in Assam, the British Prime Minister Sir
Winston Churchill was forced to announce in the British Parliament on
March 11, 1942, ” The crisis in the affairs of India arising out of
Japanese advances has made Britain wish to roll out all the forces of
Indian life to guard their land from menace of the invader.” And,
as a sop he announced sending out Sir Stafford Cripps, the then Lord
Privy Seal with some proposals to meet the Indian leaders. The
proposals were rejected by both the Indian National Congress and the
Muslim league..

The Congress leadership was still
deliberating on the issue of cooperation with the British to meet the
challenge of the Japanese. One view among the Congressmen was to
serve notice on the British to quit India. Mahatma Gandhi supported
this view and was willing to launch a non-violent movement to achieve
this objective. Apprehending trouble from the Indian National
Congress, the Viceroy Lord Wavell put the entire Congress leadership
in various jails in the country. Mahatma Gandhi and his frail, ailing
wife, Kasturba and his sick Secretary and friend Mahadev Desai were
detained in Sir Agha Khan Palace at Pune which was converted into a
jail. Both Mahadev Desai and Kasturba Gandhi died in the jail one
after the other. Mahadev Desai left this world only a week after his
arrival in the jail. The country was shocked and agitated. The Quit
India Movement, which started under its own momentum with top
leadership in the jails, was at its height in every village and town.
A million Indians courted arrests and there seemed to be no end to
it. Since all Congress leaders were in the jail, there were stray
incidents of sabotage and violence in the country much to the anguish
of Mahatma Gandhi.It continued unabated till Viceroy Wavell called it
a day and released the entire Congress leadership one morning in
1944.

The War, too, was taking a favourable
turn for the British against the Germans and Italians in Europe and
Japanese in South East Asia. In late 1944, it was clear that the War
may end in favour of the Americans and the British – the atom bomb
attack on two cities of Japan - Hiroshima and Nagasaki - broke the
back of the Japanese. The Japanese emperor tamely surrendered to the
Americans in Tokyo.

Weakened by a long and costly war and
having exhausted all resources, Britain realised that they could not
keep India in bondage! Even the arch conservative Winston Churchill
who had earlier declared that he will be the last Prime Minister of
Great Britain to liquidate the British Empire was forced to send
reconciliatory signals to come to an amicable settlement before
Germany surrendered on May 1945. War had lasted half a decade. No
longer able to hold its vast empire – it opted to drop its ‘Jewel
in the crown.' The British people back home were looking for a change
in rulers of the country. The General Elections of 1945 brought that
change – the Labour Party led by Clement Atlee replaced the
Conservative Party Government headed by Winston Churchill.

Atlee was a man in a hurry to get
rid of Indian empire.– it was becoming difficult to manage India.
There was a naval revolt on in Mumbai docks, which shook the British
Government. The trial of three Indian National Army Officers – a
Hindu, a Muslim and a Sikh in the Red Fort of Delhi enabled Indian
National Congress to create an environment where the British found
themselves in the dock. They could no longer trust their Indian Armed
Forces – the only choice was to hand over power. Nehru donned his
lawyer's clothes to represent the cause of Indian National Army
officers in the Red Fort. It helped India unite.

The British Government started doing
its home work to relinquish India peacefully . In the beginning of
1946, Atlee despatched a 11-member Parliamentary delegation
consisting seven members from the Labour Party, three Conservatives,
one Liberal and one woman member to India to have a feel about the
existing ground realities. They travelled from extreme north to the
south India talking and meeting the people. One of the Liberal
members Sorenson stayed with Nehru in Anand Bhavan, Allahabad.
Presumably, this was arranged by Nehru's friend, Krishna Menon. Nehru
was able to brief him about the Indian situation ..

Irrespective of party affiliation,
the British Parliamentary delegation reached the unanimous conclusion
that India was seething with discontent. Immediately on arrival, they
met the Prime Minister, Clement Atlee and told him “India must
have its independence - and now.” All member agreed that Jawaharlal
Nehru was the man with whom the British could do business.

The Prime Minister was already aware
of the Indian anger as he had visited India earlier as part of the
the Simon Commission. He had faced the wrath of the Indian people who
shouted 'Simon, Go back' in every town and village they visited and
had also seen how the Indian Satyagrahis faced the police 'lathis'
and bullets fearlessly under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.

But , the British had to find ways
and means to quit India without hurting themselves. They had to
devise a policy how and to whom the power should be transferred.
Indian National Congress – which represented the mainstream
politics of India was the obvious choice. But, there was the Muslim
League – which claimed to represent the majority of the Muslims.
And lately the Muslim League had come out with a strong demand to
divide India on the basis of religion – Muslim majority areas
constituting a new nation which was willing to remain a dominion
within the British Commonwealth. They called it Pakistan .The Hindus
majority areas becoming another nation – retaining the name India.
There was yet another party in the subcontinent - over 575 Princes of
India – Nawabs and Maharajas – who were autonomous within their
own realms – with the British Government having sovereignty over
them. The sovereignty was called Paramountcy. Some of the Indian
States ruled by Princes were bigger than European countries including
U.K. e.g. Jammu and Kashmir and Hyderabad. What should be their
future? This had to be determined. To decide the course of action,
Prime Minister Atlee dispatched in the spring of 1946, a three-member
Cabinet Mission consisting of Lord Pethic Lawrence, Sir Stafford
Cripps and Mr A.V. Alexander.

Before the Cabinet Mission arrived,
the British Government ordered General Election in India in the
winter of 1945-46. The elections were long due not only for Central
Legislature but also for provincial legislative bodies. This, they
believed, would determine the strength of the respective political
parties.

The Indian National Congress put its
heart and soul in the elections – so did Muslim League. But ,
Muslim League had an advantage – they were fighting only on the
seats reserved for Muslims and to be voted by the Muslims and a
majority of Muslims had already been sold to the idea of a separate
country.

The result was on the expected lines
– Congress getting a thumping majority in the Central Legislature
and most provincial legislative assembles and forming Governments in
8 out of 11 existing Provinces. Congress also succeeded in forming
its government in one Muslim majority state – North Western
Frontier Province (NWFP) where Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, a Gandhian
nationalist leader was the undisputed leader. Muslim League had its
Government only in Bengal and a mixed set-up in Sind and Punjab.

For Central legislature, Muslim
League had bagged most Muslim seats. The verdict was clear. Most
Muslims were in favour of Pakistan while the rest of India favoured
united India.

Mountbatten had seen the popularity
of Jawaharlal Nehru with the Indian residents as he had travelled in
an open car with Nehru to the venue where Indians were going to
receive Nehru. Mountbatten and his family hosted a dinner in honour
for Nehru. While Nehru was still in Malaya, the 3-member Cabinet
Mission arrived in India for a long and arduous efforts to find a
solution to transfer of power to Indians. With utmost patience on
their side and great striving on the part of Maulana Abdul Kalam
Azad, who was the then President of the Indian National Congress, a
Plan of a federated India was evolved which Mahatma Gandhi persuaded
Congress Working Committee to accept. It provided only a thin unity
between the Hindu majority and Muslim majority regions to keep them
united. The Cabinet Mission discussed the Indian situation with as
many as 500 political leaders – but ultimately the proposals were
turned down because of opposition of Jinnah .

August 12,1946. Lord Wavell invited
Nehru to form a shadow government. On Wavell's request, Nehru
appealed to Jinnah to form a coalition with him. Mr. Jinnah coldly
issued his proverbial negative reply. On September 2, Jawaharlal
Nehru formally took charge as Prime Minister of India – when Jinnah
declared it a 'Day of Mourning' to register Muslim League’s
protest. He asked Muslim Leaguers to display black flags on top of
their homes. To follows it up. Jinnah declared August 16 as Direct
Action Day to achieve Pakistan. Direct action against whom? I
wondered. Perhaps against the majority in the country. Immediate
result of this direct action was – “bloody shambles” in
Calcutta killing thousands of people in one day. It was virtually
stage-managed by Muslim League Government in Bengal headed by H.S.
Suhrawardy.

Despite this, the Muslim League later
agreed to join the shadow government in the Centre headed by Nehru
for the avowed aim of ‘wrecking the central government from
within’.

Distressed by the turn of events,
Prime Minister Atlee announced on February 26, 1947, that Britain
will certainly quit India by June 1948 – warning the Congress and
Muslim League to sort out their differences before that date. A
little later, it was announced that Admiral Louis Mountbatten will be
the twentieth and the last Viceroy of India. He believed that Lord
Mountbatten with his vast experience of South East Asia and India may
be able to accomplish the job of transfer of power better – by June
1948- the target date set by him.

On March 22, 1947, the handsome and
suave Viceroy - a cousin of the British King George V along with his
Vicerine Edwina arrived in Delhi and set to work. Lord Mountbatten
was no stranger to India – nor his wife Edwina. In 1931, Lord
Mountbatten accompanied Prince of Wales; his cousin as his ADC to
tour India. Edwina Ashley, who became his wife later, had followed
Lord Mountbatten to India and it was in Delhi that ‘Dicky’- Lord
Mountbatten proposed to Edwina to be his wife. They were witness to
the massive demonstrations against Prince of Wales Indian visit by
the Indian people.

From the day one, the new Viceroy
remained busy – visiting Provinces, meeting leaders of all shades
of opinion. Within four days of his arrival, he had met both Mahatma
Gandhi and Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Jawaharlal Nehru.

Between March 31 and April 12, 1947,
Mountbatten conferred with Mahatma Gandhi six times, Jinnah had equal
number of meetings with the indefatigable Viceroy. Jinnah stubbornly
clung to his two nation theory. No amount of logic would convince
him. At one stage, he told his advisers that Jinnah was a psychopath.
As his thoughts crystallised, he saw no option but to partition
India.

Mahatma Gandhi was against the
partition of India – he firmly said – vivisection over my dead
body.

Arguing his case with Louis Fischer,
an American writer, Gandhi said. “No Pakistan was possible unless
the British created it. The British would not create Pakistan unless
Congress accepted it. The British could not create Pakistan against
the wishes of majority – to placate Muslim League. Congress,
therefore, should not accept it.”

But, Congress leadership, it seemed,
wanted to avoid the civil war, which was already on in the villages,
towns and cities of India. Civil War could not be fought
non-violently – many Congress leaders felt.

How did Lord Mountbatten arrive at
the decision to partition India? I will leave it to Lord Mountbatten
to say in his own words. On completion of his work in India, Lord
Mountbatten addressed the Royal Council of Empire Society of London
on October 6, 1948.

“The problem”, he said, “was
the fate of 400,000,000 people, the fate of India, perhaps the fate
of Asia. My assignment was to take Britain out of India by June 1948.
The schedule required me to produce a solution by the end of 1947 in
undivided India.”

But how was India to be divided?
Congress refused to allow large non-Muslim areas to go to Pakistan.
That in effect meant that two major provinces of Punjab and Bengal,
too, will have to be partitioned.

“When I told Jinnah that I had the
provisional agreement of the Congress leaders to partition, he was
overjoyed and when I added that it will logically involve the
partition of Punjab and Bengal, he was horrified.”

“Jinnah did not like that and
started beating about the bush.”

“I told him that he could have a
united India with unpartitioned Punjab and Bengal or a divided India
with partitioned Punjab and Bengal.”

“And he finally accepted the latter
solution.”

“This would allow the British
Parliament enough time to pass necessary legislation for the freedom
of India by June 1948.”

“But on the spot”, he added, “
he and his advisers agreed that it would be too slow.”

“Trouble had already started on
August 16, 1946 on Jinnah's Direct Action Day in Calcutta, followed
by Noakhali in Bengal and the Hindu reprisals in Bihar. Then the
Muslims massacred the Sikhs in Rawalpindi in Punjab, a rising took
place in North-West Frontier Province.”

“I arrived out there,”
Mountbatten continued, “to find a terrible pendulum of massacres
swinging wider and wider, if not stopped, there was no telling where
India might end.”

“Personally,” Mountbatten said,
“I was convinced the right solution for them would have been to
keep a united India under the May 16, 1946 Plan of the British
Cabinet Mission. But the Plan pre-supposed the co-operation and
good-will of all the parties.”

“Mr Jinnah,” he added, “made it
abundantly clear from the first moment that as long as he lived he
would never accept a united India, He demanded partition, he wanted
his Pakistan.”

“Congress on the other hand,
favoured an undivided India.”

Why did Congress agree to the
partition of India despite Gandhi's strong resistance?

Nehru had agreed, “They can have
Pakistan provided they do not take with them the areas which do not
wish to join them. Mountbatten agreed to divide Punjab and Bengal”.

Patel warned, he would have put
Jinnah's threat to test of force. But, in the end, he too acquiesced.

“I agreed to partition as a last
resort when we reached a stage when we would have lost all”.
Mountbatten told his audience.

Nehru, Patel and the Working
Committee approved the partition Plan. Their approval became official
when All India Congress Committee in New Delhi sealed it on June 15 –
voting 153 for and only 29 against.

At last, the Indian National Congress
was reconciled to Pakistan.

But, Gandhi did not change and made
no secret of his chagrin. “The Congress,” he told a prayer
meeting I attended in Delhi on May 7, 1947, “has accepted Pakistan
and demanded the division of Punjab and Bengal. I am opposed to any
division of India now as I always have been in the past. But what can
I do? The only thing I can do is to disassociate myself from such a
scheme. Nobody can force me to accept it except God.”

Gandhi went to see Mountbatten. His
advice to the British was to leave with their troops and 'take the
risk of leaving India to chaos or anarchy.' If the British left
India, Gandhi explained, there might be a chaos for a while. “We
will still go through the fire no doubt but that fire will purify us”
- he explained.

But Mountbatten was not a General who
left things to a chance – he chose a precise approach – the
partition.

KRIPLANI’S DEFENCE OF PARTITION

At that time, President of the Indian
National Congress was Acharya J.B. Kriplani, a Congress leader who
belonged to Sind – now in Pakistan. Defending the decision of the
Congress Working Committee on acceptance of the Pakistan Plan, he
said, “The Hindus and Muslim communities vied with each other in
the worst of orgies of violence... I have seen a well where women
with their children, 107 in all, threw themselves to save their
honour. In another place, a place of worship, 50 young women were
killed by their menfolk for the same reason...these ghastly
experiences have affected my approach to the question. Some members
have accused us that we have taken the decision out of fear. I must
admit the truth of this charge, but not in the sense it is made. The
fear is not for the lives lost or the widows' wail or the orphans'
cry or many houses burnt. The fear is that if we go on like this,
retaliation and heaping indignities on each other, we shall
progressively reduce ourselves to a state of cannibalism and worse.
In every fresh communal outburst, the most brutal and degraded acts
of previous fight become the norm. This is the cruel truth”, he
added.

Kriplani said, “I have been with
Gandhi for 30 years – never wavering in loyalty.” Why then I am
not with him now? He asked himself. 'It is because he has not yet
found a way of tackling the problem on mass basis.'

Congress leadership was afraid that
Gandhi may stall the partition plan by going on a fast unto death.
But, Gandhi never wanted to impose his will on others. He continued
his peace mission.

Ninety five percent of Gandhi's mail
was abusive and hateful.

Hindus wanted to know why he was
partial to Muslims – some even called him Mohammad Gandhi. Some
Hindus described him as fifth columnist against Hinduism. Muslims
asked him to stop creating obstacles in the way of Pakistan.

Gandhi did what he was best at –
going to Calcutta, Bihar and wherever riots broke out – to
establish peace... to quell the riots – and bring piece back and in
the process exposing himself to the wrath of his dissenters.

But, fire had gone out of Gandhi –
he was not the same man. He described partition – a spiritual
tragedy. “In India, that is shaping out today there is no place for
me. I have given up the hope of living for 125 years. I may last a
year or two. I have no wish to live if India is to submerge in the
deluge of violence as it is threatening to do.”

On June 3, 1947, Prime Minister Atlee
announced the partition plan in the British Parliament as proposed by
Lord Mountbatten. Viceroy too announced it on All India Radio. He
said frankly, “I am of course, just as much opposed to partition of
provinces as to the partition of India herself.”

It did show utter helplessness on the
part of all in the face of Mohammad Ali Jinnah's threat. He was a
merciless, cold man .

India and Pakistan became two nations
– Pakistan was born first on August 14, 1947 and India a day later.
India requested Lord Mountbatten to continue as the Governor General
but in Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah decided to keep the crown on his
head.

As Pakistan came into existence on
August 14, Quaid-e-Aazan (the Great leader) Jinnah spoke to the
nation – asking all Pakistanis – Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and
Christians to live like brothers and sisters. In the new country,
there will be no discrimination on the basis of religion – and all
citizens will have the same rights. He had no intention to introduce
rigid Islamic laws.

When I listened to Jinnah's broadcast
on All India Radio, I wondered, whether it was Jinnah or Nehru
speaking. It was the same Jinnah who a few days ago used to say
Hindus and Muslims could not co-exist. And, now he was pleading with
his new countrymen to live in harmony with Hindus and Sikhs. Te two
nation theory vanished as Jinnah was crowned.

A few days later, when the All India
Muslim League members from India, some 300 of them - more than those
who were on the Pakistan side, met their Quaid-e-Aazam in Karachi,
he made it abundantly clear to them, “I am no longer your
President, go back home. I have no advice for you.” They were
dejected and retorted that they supported the idea of Pakistan. His
reply, “I created Pakistan. It was my and my fight alone.”

On August 15, 1947, India's
independence Day, Mahatma Gandhi was in Calcutta trying to quell the
riots and establish peace. Gandhi travelled in an open vehicle
arm-in-arm with the former Muslim League Chief Minister, who had a
change of heart and was promoting communal harmony. The international
Press paid tributes to the magic of the man in the loin-cloth.

Mahatma Gandhi was invited to the
inauguration of the Independence Day festivities – he replied,
“Thirty-two years of work, has come to “an inglorious end.”

“On August 15, 1947, India would
become independent. But the victory was cold, political arrangement.
Indians would sit where Englishmen had sat; a tricolour would flutter
in place of the Union Jack. That was the hollow husk of freedom. It
was victory with tragedy, and the victory that found the Army
defeating its own general.”

On August 15, in Muslim Pakistan
there were several million Hindus and Sikhs – most of them were
forced to leave despite Jinnah's call for equal treatment of all
Pakistanis. Of the 330 million residents of the Indian Union, 42
million at the time of Partition were Muslims. The fighting broke out
in the two Dominions between the ruling majority and the scared
minorities. No one was safe!

The Army was divided. The treasury
was divided, bureaucrats were divided. Families were divided.
Everything was divided. Vivisection sundered vital arteries. Out of
the mayhem flowed the human blood. River waters carried dead bodies
and their colour too turned red. I have seen the river Ravi turning
red with my own eyes.

This is how we won our freedom- over
a million people perished in the partition riots- more than those who
died in World War 11.

l50 million people trekked their way
hundreds of kilometres either to India from Pakistan or to Pakistan
from India not to their new homes or new opportunities but to unknown
homelessness, death or disease.

MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD’S REGRET

A few days after partition, the
Muslims of Delhi approached Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, who was the
President of Indian National Congress during the critical years of
negotiations between the Indian National Congress and the Viceroy of
India for advice and guidance.

Addressing a Friday congregation at
Jama Masjid, Delhi, he said :

“Do you remember I hailed you, you
cut off my tongue. I picked up my pen, you severed my hand. I wanted
to move forward, you cut off my legs. I tried to turn over, and you
injured my back... I called upon you to wake you up at every danger
signal. You did not heed my call... I warned you that the
‘Two-Nation’ theory was death-knell to a meaningful, dignified
life; forsake it. I told you that the pillars upon which you were
leaning would inevitably crumble. To all this you turned a deaf
ear... Time sped along. And now you have discovered that the
so-called anchors of your faith have set you adrift, to be kicked
around by fate...”

LAST DAYS OF MOHAMMAD ALI JINNAH

Though Jinnah was first upset at
getting what he termed as “ moth-eaten “ Pakistan , he was later
overjoyed at being the founder of a new sovereign state. He decided
not to waste a day of his crowning glory . Margaret Burke-white ,
photographer of TIME and LIFE Magazine found Jinnah gripped with a '
fever of ecstacy ' in Karachi and as she congratulated him on
creating the world's largest Muslim nation. Jinnah corrected her ,”
Oh , it is not just the largest Islamic nation, Pakistan is also the
fifth largest nation in the world. “ he replied raising his head
further.

A note of personal triumph was
unmistakable on his face. His ego was limitless

But time was not on the side of
Jinnah . He was already sick – he was a skeleton by now. He was
dying of consumption and cancer. And had very little time to live and
this secret was known only to a man called Dr. Patel – a Hindu- who
was his personal physician and he kept it a secret. That is why
perhaps Jinnah was a man in hurry to get Pakistan. He was sorely
disappointed with the new leaders of Pakistan – including his Prime
Minister Liaqat Ali Khan. He lamented to M.A. Khare, Chief Minister
of Sindh that he was disappointed with his Prime Minister. He had
also started suspecting his Prime Minister Liaqat's honesty.

He trusted no one. Jinnah had
appointed Liaqat Ali Khan as his trustee. but he never took him in
confidence. Liaqat Ali Khan came to know of it only after Jinnah’s
death.

Liaqat Ali Khan was later
assassinated by some unknown Pakistanis. No clue till today who
killed him.

He found the Nawab of Mamdot, the
Chief Minister of Punjab as totally untrustworthy. He called the
English Governor of Punjab and asked him to sack him and appoint
another leader Mumtaz Daultana as Chief Minister of Punjab. Daultana
refused to take the job, telling the Governor, Mamdot, “I would
just have my throat cut.”

Jinnah was shocked – at the
prospect of his 'Pakistan' in the hands of mafia.

There was no end to Jinnah's
helplessness.

His problems turned into crisis with
a new upheaval in Bengal over the language issue. Bengalis in the
East rose en-masse against the Central Government's decision to make
Urdu the only official language of the Dominion. They demanded that
as they constituted more than half the population of Pakistan.
Bengali should be declared as the only official language of the
country.

The situation was so explosive that
sick Jinnah had to rush to Dacca to pacify the population. He had
confidence in his own leadership. He thought they would listen to him
and abide by his rules.

But, alas, the fervour of Islam
worked no more. For Bengalis, language came first.

He arrived in Dacca on March 21, 1948
to a cold reception - with no slogans of Qaid-e-Azam Zindabad.

As was his habit, he was not willing
to listen to any dissent and declared in an aggressive speech that
the official language of Pakistan will be Urdu and no other.

The public reacted angrily –
shouted back. They were not prepared to listen – not even to their
Qaid-e-Azam.

He then warned them about the 'fifth
column' which was out to destroy Pakistan. “I am sorry to say that
they are Muslims who are financed by outsiders.”

Disappointed, Jinnah returned to
Karachi next day from Dacca after his first and last visit to East
Bengal capital. He confided to his sister, Fatima.

“I am sorry the game is lost. I am
backing the wrong horse.”

Jinnah struggled with death in
Quetta. The doctor felt that the end was not far and advised him to
go to Karachi for better treatment. Jinnah was in great agony and
pain but he never wanted to show it. No one was allowed to enter his
room unless he called. Doctors too had to seek permission to go
there. The ailing Jinnah would immediately adjust clothes and tried
to show that he was alert.

For the plane journey to Karachi on
August 13, 1948, his sister advised him to wear the usual Kurta
Pyjama to be comfortable in travel.

But, the 'English man' in Jinnah
insisted on wearing a brand new suit with a tie to match and
handkerchief in his vanity pocket.

Fatima helped him to put on his pump
shoes and favourite hat.

He could not think of dressing
himself in any other way!

He died on September 28, 1948 – one
year after the establishment of Pakistan. He was 72 when he died.

His mausoleum in Karachi is a place
of pilgrimage for the Muslims of Pakistan.

Did he ever regret his decision to
divide India? Did he regret that a million people perished in the
partition riots? No one could answer as Jinnah had no friends nor
confidants – only the hangers on to toe his line. He was a loner.
His own wife died young because of a indifferent husband and his
daughter deserted him to marry a Parsee.

In the meetings of the top leaders
of Muslim League, Jinnah’s views were final. Anyone, who dared to
dissent, was out!

If he had lived longer, perhaps he
could have changed the direction of Pakistan to a more modern and
moderate state. One can only wonder.